Eastern Gateway Community College has eliminated key access and equity barriers for tens of thousands of working adults, making the dream of a college education a reality, through its wholesale adoption of OER. This session will focus on the evolution of OER on the EGCC campus, from initial adoption through rapid expansion, with a focus on the adminsitrative, policy, systemic, faculty, design learning and other changes required to create such an opportunity.
Eastern Gateway Community College has transformed its campus since 2015 with the growth and expansion of its Free College program, from a two-campus institution serving round 2,000 students per year to a global online campus serving nearly 80,000 students since 2015. The adoption and integration of free OER course materials and resources have been integral to this growth, as have the structural and business-process changes required to make this Free College program a reality. In 2020 alone, these OER efforts culminated in more than 200 courses being offered with zero course material costs, with thousands of sections accomodating more than 40,000 students, resulting in course material/textbook savings of more than $22.3M. As a result of these efforts, Eastern Gateway Community College has eliminated key access and equity barriers for tens of thousands of working adults, making the dream of a college education a reality. This session will focus on the evolution of OER on the EGCC campus, from initial adoption through rapid expansion, with a focus on the adminsitrative, policy, systemic, faculty, design learning and other changes required to create such an opportunity.